Rain and puddles

Ages 3 to 5 Read and do together · about 15 minutes

Read together

Rain falls from the clouds. Pitter, patter, splash!

Where does the puddle go when the sun comes out?

Do it

1. On a rainy day, put on boots and look at the rain from a window or a safe porch.
2. Put a cup outside to catch rain. Check it later.
3. After the rain, find a puddle. Mark its edge with chalk and check again after an hour.
4. Say what you notice: the puddle gets smaller.

Talk about it

• Where did the water go?
• What happened to the puddle?

For the grown-up

Water dries up into the air as vapour (evaporation). The idea is hard to see, so just watch the puddle shrink. Stay away from deep water, storm drains and lightning.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• NGSS Lead States, Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States (National Academies Press, 2013), performance expectation K-ESS2-1 (patterns of local weather)
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service, JetStream Online School for Weather

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.